Governmental organization may issue warnings to the public in several ways. One way to issue a warning is by using the Emergency Alert System (formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System). Specifically, the Emergency Alert System is a tool by which the Federal, State and Local Governments may issue warnings to the public about emergency situations. The Emergency Alert System may use digital technology to distribute messages that can be sent through a broadcast station or cable system.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is another governmental organization that issues warnings to the public. Specifically, the NOAA may broadcast a message via a radio frequency that may be received by specially equipped radios. The messages may include weather forecasts and warnings, such as news about severe storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and volcanic activity; chemical spills and bio-hazardous releases. Further, in some states, Amber Alerts (or other messages issued to assist in finding missing children) may be broadcast, such as on the same radio frequency as Emergency Alert System messages. The broadcasted messages may include various codes, such as codes to designate the content of the message (e.g., whether the message is local, regional, or national, an Amber Alert, etc.).
The Department of Homeland Security also broadcasts messages to the public. The messages may indicate the status of the current assessed threat level. For example, the message may signal alert conditions, in descending order of urgency of: critical, serious, alert and ready. Or, the message may indicate a specific threat, such as a potential or actual terrorist attack. The Homeland Security messages may be broadcast over the same radio frequency as the NOAA alerts.
Oftentimes, disseminating the emergency messages to the public may prove difficult. People are in a variety of locations, such as at home, at school, at work. The NOAA weather radios designed to receive the NOAA messages may turn themselves on when an alert is broadcast, increasing the likelihood that the alert will be noticed. However, merely relying on the NOAA weather radios (or the television, etc.) may be insufficient since many environments, such as work and school, are not conducive to listening to the radio or watching the television. Moreover, most people do not have the NOAA weather radios limiting the effectiveness of messages disseminated. Therefore, a need exists to more effectively disseminate emergency messages to the public.